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Amp Guide

something like a hot rod deluxe would work great

that's a popular amp, I've heard guys gig them and sound good, but I can never get my sound out of 'em... they take pedals pretty well though... one heads up, try to find a 90s one used, they were bult better with off-board tube sockets back then, made in the USA.... I know guys who have had reliability issues with the new ones... also, take a new one to a tech and have it rebiased immediately to improve the clean tone (unless you dig the sound wholeheartedly), Fender biases them cold from the factory to prevent in-store tube failures and hey sound a bit anemic...

if you intend to use pedals for your OD/distortion and ignore the amp's drive feature consider going with a simpler circuit, less to go wrong, less unused amp circuitry bogging down your signal... in my opinion the best amp for the pedalboard guy playing small venues and covering a wide range of styles is a deluxe reverb with a really efficient speaker or driving a larger cab, the DRRI is rated at about 22 watts and that's bone clean tone there, give it a 100dB efficiency celestion like a G12H or V30 and it will hold its own with a 40 watt 1x12 combo and you will get a nice full clean because you will be driving everything a little harder to get the stage volume you would from a dual 6L6 circuit because the larger amp will be a bit too loud at its sweet spot (the range on the volume or gain dial where the amp is just about to break up if you dig in, which provides the fullest, most touch sensitive and most pedal-flattering clean tone in fender type class AB amplifiers) for most sound guys/managers in bars to tolerate... hey, Rick Nielsen of cheap trick has ALWAYS used silverface deluxe reverbs chopped into heads, pushed into light OD driving marshall or marshall-style cabs and no one has ever said cheap trick had bad tone...

in the same wattage and feature range as the hot rod I really prefer fender's supersonic amps, both the dual 6v6 and original dual 6L6 models sound tasty and the 'supergain' or whatever they call that channel? not bad at all... its based on the discontinued custom shop prosonic head which is a really good sounding piece too, but hard to find... if you think you might get your drive from the amp there are lots of amps with footswitchable drive in that price range (particularly if you are open to used kit and you should be, amps made before Chinese manufacturing are better laid out and constructed, if a used 90s amp was well serviced by previous owners and you keep up with changing output tubes and checking out any weird intermittent noises and such then it should go strong for decades) that I think sound a lot better (including the aforementioned supersonics), but try a bunch without any preconceived notions...

play them loud, bring your drummer to a store during a time when the store is not busy and ask if you can take some amps in the drum room and test them at gig volumes with your drummer banging away and see how you sound against his playing... in cheapies I am pretty impressed with the egnater and jet city stuff for tone, but I can't speak to reliability

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

and don't rely on others opinions, you'll know when you fall in love with an amp

unless they are opinions about reliability because nothing sucks more than falling in love with the sound of an amp that's always in the shop

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

I don't own one but I've used one live a lot, I mean it's not gonna take a beating like an ac30 can but as long as you keep it safe and dry it should last for a while but I'd recommend swapping tubes after a while

I don't own one but I've used one live a lot, I mean it's not gonna take a beating like an ac30 can but as long as you keep it safe and dry it should last for a while but I'd recommend swapping tubes after a while

I would take a current production hot rod over an ac30 custom classic any day for reliability

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

y'know, for around $400USD I would look at those blackstar stage 40 or 50 combo amps, I tried one for shits and giggles and while it didn't excel at any 1 thing it was pretty passable at a lotof different sounds thanks to all the gain on tap and that ISF control

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

if it were me I would scrape up 1 oe 2 hundred more bucks 'n buy a late 60s or early 70s traynor bassmaster head... a plexi by any other name is, well, you get it... loud, toneful, handwired, built like a goddamn tank, versatile in a vintage sense of the word AND still affordable though prices have gone up and keep rising since I was a kid (you will likely turn a profit when you flip an old traynor, they are popular with players who know)

https://reverb.com/item/1322371-vintage-traynor-yba-1-all-tube-bass-guitar-amp-head

https://reverb.com/item/1349647-traynor-yba-1-bass-master-mark-ii

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp